Part 1, Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

"1945"

First person narrator Pao is visited by a beautiful woman named Gloria after her sister Marcia is assaulted by a white sailor. After Gloria goes, Pao's friend Hampton observes that she and her sister are probably both prostitutes. Pao visits Marcia anyway and discovers how badly she's been beaten. Shortly afterwards, Gloria visits again, thanking Pao for what he did, narration revealing that the sailor has been put in the hospital after a "conversation" with Hampton. She asks Pao to protect her and her business - she and four other girls, including Marcia, "work" out of a house in East Kingston. Although Pao agrees, his uncle / mentor Zhang (who became Pao's surrogate father figure after his real father was murdered while resisting French and British military incursions) warns him against getting involved. Pao is too interested in Gloria to...